Heartbeat 5
by overloyalbuddy
Summary: In the future - Cristina is trying to decide where to go for her fellowship. Burke, Hahn, and Dixon are returning to fight Teddy to become the new Head of Cardiothoracics. They also have personal vendettas.
1. Chapter 1

**Cristina's POV**

I rubbed my eyes and glared balefully at the pile of brochures. There was too many choices. I couldn't decide.

"Hey," Meredith greeted me, walking in. She was almost eight months pregnant and very bloated. She and Derek had finally gotten pregnant.

I glared at her. "Johns Hopkins or Mass Gen? Mayo Clinic or Mount Sinai? Or do I stay at Seattle Grace?"

"Stay at Grace!" Mer answered immediately. "Your husband is here, you have a great house, and Teddy is here to teach you! It's the best possible place to do your fellowship!"

"But her contract is running out! The Chief will be holding interviews for Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery! What if Teddy doesn't get it?" I snapped back, rising to my feet.

"She'll get the job," Meredith insisted, collapsing on my couch. "Now, take a break. Get me some water."

"All right," I groaned, walking to the kitchen, "But I wonder who else is interviewing for the job?"

**Preston's POV**

_Trumpet…Scrubs caps…Resume…_

I made a mental checklist of everything I have in my bags. I'd just finished checking into the airport in Baltimore. I was going to Seattle to interview for the job of Head of Cardiothoracic surgery at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, a position I had held six years before.

The job was not the only reason I was returning to Washington. I had some old friends I wanted to visit. Richard Webber, the Chief of Surgery, who would be interviewing me, was of special interest. As was Derek Shepherd and Meredith Grey, who also worked at Seattle Grace Mercy West.

I also wanted to make amends with Cristina Yang, my ex-fiancée. She had gotten married in the intervening years since we had separated, but I still wanted to talk to her again. I believed there needed to be closure, in some form or other.

**Erica's POV**

As I landed at the airport in Seattle, I looked at the picture of Callie Torres on my phone. It was the one remnant of our relationship that I still had.

Since I had quit my job at Seattle Grace five years ago, I had had three relationships with various women, all of whom had been subpar compared with Callie. I missed her very much. Looking back, I had been rash to leave. And now Izzie Stevens was gone, I could return and try to win Callie back.

I knew she was currently in a relationship with the Pediatrics Surgeon Arizona Robbins. She had gotten pregnant about three years back, and had given the baby to Addison Montgomery in Los Angeles. When Mark Sloan, the biological father, found out Callie and Arizona had made this decision without him, he left Washington in a fit of anger and went down to LA to co-parent with Addison.

Even if I couldn't have a relationship with Callie again, I was determined to win back my position of Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery. As far as I knew, my only competitors were Preston Burke, Theodora Altman, and Virginia Dixon. I felt good about my chances about being reinstated.

**Virginia's POV**

The hotel lights of my suite were too bright. My hypersensitivity, which accompanies my Asperger's Syndrome, was being triggered, so I turned off the lights. As I stood there in the warm velvety darkness, I reviewed the reasons for taking a leave of absence at the Mayo Clinic to come to Seattle, Washington.

#1: Interview for the position of Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Seattle Grace Mercy

West Hospital

#2: Attend my appointment with Dr. Derek Shepherd, the Head of Neurosurgery at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital

#3: If I get turned down for the Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, I will try to convince Dr Cristina Yang to take her fellowship under me at the Mayo Clinic

I nod my head. These three reasons outweighed the possible negative consequences of taking time off my job at the Mayo Clinic.

**Teddy's POV**

"Richard, you can't give the job to any of these other people. Burke and Hahn quit this very job before, which shows their irresponsibility. And Dixon is impossible to communicate with, as she has shown before in this very hospital!"

I glare at Richard Webber, as I realize I'm yelling at my boss, who is about to decide whether or not I should keep my job, so I bob my head respectfully to minimize the explosiveness of my statement.

He smiled tiredly at me. "Teddy, you haven't exactly been a perfect employee either. You did marry a patient, and kick Arizona out of her own OR, and tried to usurp Owen's authority in front of his residents on multiple occasions. So everyone has an equal chance in this interview. You hear me?"

I nod, and quietly leave Richard's office.


	2. Chapter 2

**Cristina's POV**

"Interns!" I called, snapping my fingers, picking up my charts for rounds. I only had two interns this year, thank God. For the first few years of baby-sitting interns, I had numbered them, then I had lettered them, and now I just referred to them with pronouns. It was so much easier that way.

They run up to me, that eager gleam in their inexperienced eyes. They had that lust for exciting cases full of intrigue and fame. I sneered at them.

In our first patients room, my male intern presented. "Lydia Irving, 34, admitted last night with severe migraines that labs revealed to be a buildup of blood around her frontal cortex. Today Dr. Shepherd will be suctioning out the fluid. It's a simple procedure, and you'll be out of here tonight."

When he finished, he gave the petite woman in the bed a warming smile. I pushed him aside and gave Lydia her operation time and possible downsides to the surgery. We left, without Lydia ever having said a word.

"She wasn't particularly chatty," I remarked, moving purposefully down the hall.

"She was mute!" My female intern said in a shocked tone. No doubt she thought I was a heartless monster who didn't care about my patients.

I twirled around and pointed at her face with a pen. "Okay, you silly little wretch, let's get something straight. You do not get to judge me. I am the best doctor of my year and I always will be. I've done surgeries that you can't imagine in your dizziest daydreams. So if you _ever _judge me again, I swear to God I'll – "

"Mayday! MAYDAY!" Callie slams into me, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"What? What's wrong?" I demand.

"Burke and Erica are here! Our evil exes are here! And Dixon, but who cares about her? We need to hide! The heart surgeons from hell are back! We need to go!"

Panic filled my heart. "Finish rounds!" I yell at my interns, dashing after Callie up the nearest flight of stairs.

"Where can we go?" I demand.

"Anywhere! Psych ward! On-call room! Who cares? We just have to hide out!" She called back, picking up the pace as I, with typical perfect timing, trip over my own shoelace. Callie doesn't wait for me, and I don't blame her. This is a nightmare come true.

I get up and run around the next corner, directly into Preston Burke.

**Preston's POV**

"Hello, Cristina," I smile at her.

She explodes. "Don't you dare 'Hello, Cristina' me, Preston Harris Burke! You left me! So you don't get to talk to me! Ever! And if you come near me, I'm going to find my husband, who _didn't _leave me at the altar, and who knows how to deal with problems in relationships, and he will beat the crap out of you! So leave me alone now!"

She stormed off. Erica came up on my right hand. "I think she's handling it exceedingly well."

**Erica's POV**

Smirking at Preston, I saunter off, supremely confident that I'll have more success with my ex.

At the nurses desk, a cute little blond in navy scrubs was looking over charts and sipping coffee. I smile at her.

"Hi, I'm looking for Callie Torres. Do you know where she is?"

"Not currently, but I can page her for you," she smiled at me. "Hi, I'm Arizona Robbins. And you are?"

I narrowed my eyes very slightly. So this was my replacement. "Erica Hahn."

Robbins spit coffee all over the counter. A blue-haired nurse glared at her. Robbins smiled back at her and grabbed some wipes from a nearby tray. As she cleaned up the counter, she smiled sweetly at me. "Erica Hahn? Oh, I've heard a lot about you. I'll… go get Calliope."

She tore off, ponytail bouncing wildly. I smile. This was going to be easier than I thought.

**Virginia's POV**

Dr. Shepherd looked up at me from the MRI scans of my brain that had been taken at the Mayo Clinic. "You'll die if I don't operate on this tumor, Virginia."

"Yes, I am aware of that. I was wondering how long I had if I don't have the operation."

"Two years. The tumor is absolutely tiny right now, and it's a miracle that you detected it so early. But it's malignant, and if it continues to grow, you will die. Let me operate."

"No. Two years is all I need to fulfill my current plans."

**Teddy's POV**

I dropped my lunch tray down on the table where Arizona and Bailey were eating. They look up.

"This sucks," I growl. "Mark moved, Owen and Derek are married, Avery's with Lexie, Karev has turned into a surgery monk, and Henry is dead. There is absolutely no one to have sex with."

Bailey snorted. "Try Eli. He's still stalking me, trying to woo me back to that accursed on-call room. He needs to be distracted."

Arizona was staring out the window. "Callie's first girlfriend is back."

"Like I said," I assert, sitting down. "This sucks."


End file.
